Google Art Project wins Webby Awards

Photographic archive site PhotoSeed and the Google Art Project were named the winners of this year’s Webby Awards in the category of Art.

The annual Webby Awards are now in their 16th year and highlight the best of the internet across websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, mobile and apps.

PhotoSeed, a site that documents and archives early fine-art photography from the 19th and early 20th centuries, was named the winner of the Art category in this year’s awards. PhotoSeed helps visitors explore a wide range of captivating period photographs. It provides viewers with a glimpse of what life, fashion and architecture were like at the time.

The historical photographic site was selected over other nominees including art discovery blog Colossal, the Google Art Project, the website of Australian contemporary portrait photographer Dean West, and the website of contemporary gallery the Walker Art Center.

Google’s Art Project was popular with voters and was named the winner of the People’s Voice award. Google has collaborated with 151 leading galleries around the globe to bring their artworks into the digital age.

The site features over 30,000 artworks -- many with brushstroke-level detail -- and enables visitors to take a virtual tour of museums located on the other side of the world.

The website drawastickman.com won the Webby Award for Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics and was also awarded the People’s Voice award.

The interactive animated adventure story was praised by both the judges and the online community for its clever use of animation.

Drawastickman.com encourages people to participate in an interactive story by drawing their own leading character (the stickman) and sketching essential story elements on the fly.

The Webby Awards will be presented on May 21 at a gala event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the web and via the Webby Awards App.